Mike Pearson states in Why Performance (2011) that ” Performance can enhance public appreciation and understanding” ((Pearson, Mike (2010) Site Specific Performance, London: Palgrave Macmillan)) When discussing our preferred outcome for the performance, the overall decision was about giving the Grandstand it voice back to the community of Lincoln. Therefore i found Pearson’s point very relevant to our site piece as the Grandstand is no longer being used for its original purpose or hardly at all. It is now just merely a site being seen through the window of a car or a caged looking obstacle in the periphery of a drifting civilian. However instead we want to make it a site to be seen and appreciated for its true history and its role in being an important part of Lincolns heritage. As well as identifying the Grandstand as being isolated in terms of where it is situated in relation to such historical buildings as the Cathedral, the building its self can be seen as quite misunderstood.
In relation to past class exercises Myself, Eloise, Emma, Charlie and Kash expressed our interest in resuscitating the Grandstand’s voice through a silent performance but with written opposing themes on post it notes which we placed over our mouths. We stood in front of a projection depicting an old sepia photo from the Lincoln Handicap. This showed a busy scene of the site alive with crowds of people and therefore was the antithesis to our sticky silence. There was one element of a crowd sound which we played to enhance the business of the picture behind us. With neutral faces as we tore each layer of post it note off, each singular word dropped slowly to the ground. Such themes as winning,losing, loud quiet, grief were written in capitals all relating to the feelings and atmosphere of what the spectating audience would of been experiencing and therefore we wanted our audience to think about what those losses were and what was the lasting affects from going to a day at the races. Were any of those themes linked with memories made in that place? Our developing performance we also found related well to Pearson’s statement that ” Performance can provoke questions about the attachment of memory to place” (( Pearson,Mike ( 2011) Why Performancehttp://www.landscape.ac.uk/landscape/documents/eventpapers/toolkit/1whyperformance.pdf Accessed 12/3/2013 )) In particular we wanted to focus on the theme of loss and what it feels like to loose.
As a result from feedback and observation of our performance we found that the way in which the post it notes had been dis guarded on the floor, was quite representative of forgotten lost or thrown away betting and race tickets. Furthermore our interest continued to now focus on loss and what those possible failed gambles on horses did to people and families living in Lincoln at the time and equally now, in a present day betting shop.
Finally we drew our attention to the horses themselves and their voices. As the only living and breathing main purpose of the Grandstand, we considered as they loose a race, how much their passiveness as an animal, fades them into the background and that their experiences and treatment in the space is missing or not even considered accountable.
The Horse as a missing body, the unspoken hero’s of keeping the Grandstand breathing for as long as it did. This leads further to more questions of comparing the difference between the spectators loss from a race, and then the horse/ horses that loose the race.
Taking into consideration that horses have been bearing the weight of he human race for thousands of years apart from animal activist groups possibly and My Little Pony horses their silence has been long lasting however that relationship between the two different species has remained close. Some earlier evidence of this is shown below and proves how the Horse has been a key figure of helping advance technology.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrRUDS1xbNs
Shown above is one of the first moving motion pictures. Created by photographer Eadweard Muybridge in 1878. Called ” Horse ( Occident) trot with sulky) and taken at Palo Alto stock farm in California triggered by a trip wire as the horse galloped down a track past twelve stereoscopic cameras. This short revolutionary film helps to show the beauty and mechanics of the horse itself as a body and what power it emulates. ((Muybridge Eadweard,1878,http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrRUDS1xbNs,Accessed March 6 2013))
However as we run our race through victory and defeat will they continue to run theirs in silence but after our performance who will reign supreme?